Household air cooler



' HOUSEHOLD AIR COOLER Filed Aug. 5, 1951 i Patented Mar. 1934 1,949,5zi I UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE Application August 5, 1931, Serial No. 555,169

6 Claims. (Cl. 2in-95) My invention relates to an air cooler that is especially designed for household use and the principal object of my invention is, to provide a relatively simple, practical, inexpensive and eili- 6 cient device that may be conveniently and economically used for humidifying and cooling air, particularly in households, rooms, ofllces and the like.

Further objects of my invention are, to provide a device of the character referred to that is compact and comparatively light in weight in order that it may be conveniently moved from one point of use to another and further, to provide an air cooler and humidifier wherein air is cooled as l5 a result of its absorption of moisture that exudes my invention consists in certain novel features of vconstruction and arrangement of parts that will hereinafter be morefullyy described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section taken through the center" of an air cooler constructed in accordance with my invention.

' Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken onl the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying' drawing which illustrate a practical embodiment of my invention, 10-10 designate the upright walls of a substantially rectangular housing,

which walls are preferably formed o f suitable sheet metal and their verticaledges are clamped Abetween the flanges of vertically disposed corner posts, each of which is formed of a pair of light weight angle bars 11. and the members of each pair of angle bars being detachably connected by1 means of screws or-bolts 12 which pass through the corners of said angle bars (see Fig. 3).

'Arranged in the bottom oi the housing thus formed is a frame 13 preferably composed of angle iron and arranged at the corners' of said frame are casters 14 or suitable rolling supports, which enable Athe cooler to be readily moved from one position to another. l

Supported by frame"13, is a drip' pan 15, provided with an outlet 16 that is normally closed by 55. Formedj alla 10 of the housing, immeing nuts 32 applied thereto.

rality of small apertures 37 which permits water to slowly discharge from said tubes.

diately above the drip pan, are air outlet openings 18 and covering saidopenings are sections of reticulated material 19, preferably Wire screen of small mesh.

Formed through the upper portions of the y Walls 10 of the housing are air inlet housings 20 and arranged thereover are sections 21 of Wire screen or reticulated material.

Arranged in the upper portion of the housing is a reservoir 22, above which is a cover plate 23 for 65 the top of the housing and formed in said cover l plate is a filler opening 24 that is closed by aremovable cap or plug 25.

Arranged in the upper portion of the chamber within-the housing, is a fan or air propeller 26 70 that is driven by a small electric motor 27 and the latter being mounted on suitable supports 28. f

Leading from the bottom of the reservoir 22 is -a conduit, preferablya metal tubez the same extending'to one of the corners in the housing and 7l said tube is then extended downwardly a short distance, thence horizontally across one end of the chamber within the housing, thence downwardly a' short distance and thence horizontally across the end of the chamber within the housing B0 and which arrangement provides a plurality of horizontally disposed 'tubular legs 29 that are preferably spaced at equal distances apart.

'I'hese horizontally disposed tubular legs are supported by an upright skeleton frame 30 that 85 is arranged within the housing, in any. suitable mannenpreferably by means of U-bolts 3l that pass around the tubular legs and through the frame'30 and the threaded ends of said bolts hav- 00 From the end of the'lower one of the horizontal legs 29, a smallvent tube 33 extends upwardly through the housing and throughthe top 23, the upper end of this vent pipe being open to atmosphere.

Connected by suitable couplings to the tubular legs 29 are horizontally disposed tubes34 and the ends of these tubes opposite the ends that are connected to the tubular legs 29 are closed by means of screw caps or plugs 35 and said closed 100 ends are supported by horizontally disposed rails 36 that are secured to the adjacent end wall of the housing.

There are two Aor more of the tubes 34 connected to each horizontal lleg 29 and the tubes on one leg 105 are staggered in. relation'to the tubes of the next adjacent tubular legs. i

Each horizontal tube is provided Vwitha plu- Moulded on each tube 34 is an elongated block 38 of porous material, preferably hardened plastic material, that is'composed of or which may include sand, cement and gypsum. The underfaces of these blocks are considerably wider than the upper faces and thus the side faces are inclined and converge upwardly.

The porous blocks are slightly shorter than the tubes 34 and thus the ends of said tubes project slightly beyond the ends of the blocks for attachment to the tubular legs 29 and the supports 36.

Located in the upper portion of the tube that is bent to` form the tubular legs 29 and above the uppermost one of said tubular legs, is a valve 39,

' the handle or stem of which is arranged on the -the apertures 37 into the bodies of the porous blocks 38. 'I'his water eventually passes to the surfaces of' the blocks from whence it is absorbed by the air that is driven downwardly through the housing over and past the porous blocks 4by the motor driven fan or propeller 26.

The operation of the fan or propeller 26 draws air inwardly through `the openings 20 and after this air passes downwardly over and around the porous blocks and is cooled by the absorption of the moisture that exudes from the surfaces whereof, the cooled and humidied air discharges outwardly through the openings 18 in the lower portion of the housing.

Tests and experiments with a relativelyvsmall device constructed in accordance with my invention, prove that 'the temperature in a room of average size may be lowered from ten to fifteen degrees within a comparatively short time.

Any excess moisture that may drip from the porous blocks will be caught in the drip pan 15 and any accumulation of water within said pan .may be discharged by removing plugll from the opening 16.

Thus it will be seen that l have provided an air humidifier and cooler that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction oi' the various parts of my improved household air cooler may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims. y

I claim as my invention:

1. In an air humidifier and cooler, a housing provided in its upper portion with an air inlet opening and iii-its lower portion with an air Y porous blocks therein. l Q

2. In an air humidier and cooler, a housing provided in its upper portion with an air inlet opening and in its lower portion with an air outlet opening, a plurality of horizontally disposed porous blocks arranged in staggered relation within the housing between said openings said blocks having dat inclined side faces, means for delivering water into said blocks, means for producing and maintaining a iiow of air downward= ly through said housing and over the porous blocks therein and ineens for regulating the flow of `water to said. porous blocks.

3. In an air humidifier and cooler, a housing provided in its upper portion with an airvinlet opening and in its lower portion with an air outlet opening, a reservoir in the upper portion of said housing, a plurality of horizontally disposed porous blocks suspended within the hous-I ing between the air inlet and outlet openings said blocks having fiat inclined side faces and arranged in staggered relation, a perforated pipe extending into each porous block, a conduit leading from the reservoir to the perforated pipes/in said porous'blocks and means for producing and extending'into each porous block, a conduit leading from the reservoir to the perforated pipes in said porous blocks, means for producing and maintaining a current of air downwardly through said housing over and around said porous blocks, means for controlling the now of Waterfrom the reservoir to the perforated pipes in the porous blocks and a drip pan in the lower portion of said housing.

5. In an air humidifier and cooler, a housing provided in its upper portion with an air inlet opening and in its lower portion with an air outlet opening, a reservoir in the upper portion of said housing, a supporting rack arranged within said housing, certain members of which racir are in the form of tubes having communication with said reservoir, certain of which tubes are perforated, porous blocks suspended from said perforated tubes and means for producing and maintaining a now of air downwardly through said housing over said blocks.

d. En an air humidifier and cooler, a housing tion with said reservoir, certain of which tubes'M are perforated, porous blocks suspended from said perforated tubes, means for producing and maintaining a dow of air downwardly through said housing over said. blocks, means for control ling the flow of water from said reservoir to the tubular members of said rack and a drip pan 

